Wonderland Restored
by libros5
Summary: This is a sequal to evil older sister's Alice's Choice/ Trusted Conman (on ao3). Here we see a brief glimpse on the rest of Alice and Hatter's life together begins.


Previously on evil older sister's Trusted Conman/ Alice's Choice:

_"You did it" Hatter spoke lovingly, "you freed her. As for where we are, I haven't the foggiest. This just happens to be where we landed" When he bent down to kiss her she realized that she didn't much care where they were. She was home now._

NOW:

Once the kissing stopped, Hatter rested his forehead against Alice. "We should find somewhere to stay for the night and then find out where we are."  
"Yeah." Hatter released her and took her hand instead. They picked a direction and started their track watching out for roots and any dangerous beasts that may be around.

"How did we end up separated from everyone else?" Hatter glanced at Alice who was currently stepping over a tree root. "Dunno. My guess is that since we were the instigators of the plan to bring wonderland back to its original chaos order we were separated for our own protection. I doubt many people are happy about it."

Sounds logical. "Well, we'll run into Jack eventually as I'm sure he's going to send someone to get us once they find out where we are," Alice sighed. "We both live in wonderland now so there's no avoiding it."  
"What about your friends, your family?" Though Hatter was happy that Alice was staying (not that she had a choice anymore) he was worried that she would regret her decision once it sank in that she could never leave even to visit.

Alice stopped and turned Hatter to look at her. "I'm not really close to anyone since I've been searching for my dad whenever I could. I know I won't ever see my mom again unless she visits and I doubt that since she would never believe that Wonderland exists without proof," she trails off thinking. "When Jack proposed that night, he received a text message from someone. At first I thought it was a family member telling him that they couldn't come cause he asked me if I wanted to meet his family. Now I think it was someone from the resistance. So, maybe there's a way to contact my mom at least."

Hatter looked at her softly. "It'll still be hard, Alice," he lets out a deep breath. "But I'll help you when it is . And you're right. We'll find a way to contact your mum." Alice smiles, "I know you will." Suddenly, she remembers the ring. Looking at her hand, she sees that she isn't wearing it nor is it in her grasp.

Alice looks back up at Hatter. "Where's the ring?" Before he could answer a voice from behind them speaks. "Check your pocket." Turning around, Hatter and Alice find themselves face to face with Chess. Chess was grinning and looking at them mischievously.

"My pocket?" Alice starts to put her hands in the coat pockets. "Your dress. Where you kept your father's watch." Feeling a bit unnerved, Alice checked the mentioned pocket and pulled out the ring. "It no longer powers the looking glass," Chess continues. Alice and Hatter stared. "Come again?" Hatter asked.

"Wonderland has always controlled the looking glass itself. However, years ago after the first Alice came the Queen of Hearts took over completely and everyone forgot the old ways as you explained before. So the knights made the ring. And the most current Queen of Hearts wanted to be sure she could get the oysters brought here with no interference so she took the ring after wiping them out. Now that Wonderland is back to its old ways it absorbed the power of the ring," Chess's grin widened. "The ring is only a ring from here on out."

Alice looks at the ring for a moment. "So what do we do with it?"  
"Whatever you wish. I suggest hiding it though. No need to make yourselves targets. Say it disappeared after the spell." Hatter reaches over to take the ring from Alice. "We should chuck it into the lake. That should keep it hidden for years," he says. "Good idea. But we don't know how far we are from the lake." At those words Chess imparts her last advice. "Keep walking the direction you were. You'll reach the lake and the boat soon enough." When Alice looked back, she was gone.

"Well," Hatter shook off the feeling of perplexity he always got when dealing with his sister. "Let's continue on until we reach the lake." Alice merely nodded and followed Hatter. Once they reached the edge where Hatter had placed the boat, Hatter pushed it back onto the water then helped Alice get in. "Right. Time to get rid of the ring." He pulled his right arm back then threw the ring out into the lake. Alice felt relieved to finally be rid of the troublesome ring. "So where to now?" She asks. "I suppose back to the tea shop."

***  
Alice stuck close to the wall as she followed Hatter to the tea shop. Back to where it all began. Alice thought wryly. When Hatter had suggested to return to his shop Alice had pointed out that Jack would most likely send someone there to find them. "True," Hatter had responded. "But my place is under the shop. And there's only one way in and out. We'll just have to sneak in."

Once they arrived at the tea shop, Hatter leads Alice to his office and towards a wall in the back. "It only opens when I touch this particular spot," he explains as the "door" opens. "Smart." The door turns out to be the entrance to Hatter's living room. There was a couch, a table, and a bookcase. On their left was the kitchen which also lead to the rest of the apartment.

***

It's been several days since Alice had returned Wonderland to its former state. Jack had managed to find the tea shop only rice so far. The other times resulted with him ending up on the lake, the forest or just a random place far from the shop.

Both times he did end up at the tea shop he went through the whole shop looking for them with no luck as they had decided to stay in the apartment and getting to know each other.

Currently, Alice and Hatter were putting away the dishes they just washed when Chess popped in. Literally. "Jack's gone." Hatter and Alice jumped in shock at her appearance.

"Chess!" Hatter gasped. "I told you to stop doing that!" Alice had a hand on her chest trying to slow her heartbeat. "What do you mean "gone"?" Chess looked at her. "I mean gone. He's no longer in Wonderland. Nor can he ever come back. Also, Dodo is dead. Heart attack."

Hatter raised his hands. "Woah, woah, woah. One thing at a time. One: Jack is gone? And he's never coming back? How?" Chess puts a finger to her lips looking thoughtful. "I am not entirely sure how. However, I do know Wonderland is not happy with Jack and refuses to allow him to return."

Alice frowns at the news that Wonderland was not allowing Jack to return to his home but knows there isn't really anything she could do about it. The whole plan was to return Wonderland to its unpredictable nature. Wonderland was now uncontrollable and she had no desire to try to control Wonderland regardless.

"You said Dodo was dead?" Alice prompted knowing it was no good thinking about Jack and instead focused on the news of the man who tried to kill her and had shot Hatter. "Yes," Chess retuned to the present conversation instead of attempting to understand what Wonderland was doing in regards of Jack the false prince (though she had a rather accurate idea evening she wasn't aware of it).

"It seems that the news of the overthrow of the Queen of hearts, the destruction of the casino and the release of Aria which returned Wonderland to its original form was too much and he died of a heart attack while cursing my mischief brother."

Hatter snorted at his sister calling him a mischief when she is the most mischievous person in Wonderland. "Well at least we don't need to worry about Dodo," Alice huffs. "Not that he was much of a threat seeing as he never left the library."  
"True," Hatter answered. "I doubt he'd have found anyone willing to help him come after me."

"Bit of an anticlimax though," Alice muttered.

Chess grinned. She was about to pop out when she had a thought. "Oh Alice?" Alice looked up at Chess. "Yes?"  
"How did your mother handle the conversation about your staying here permanently?"  
Alice blinked surprised that Chess knew of the conversation. She sees Hatter shaking his head out of the corner of her eyes. She thinks back to the phone call to her mother.

FLASHBACK

"Hello?"  
"Mom? It's Alice."  
Alice hears a noise of surprise from her mother. "Alice? Where are you calling from? It's been a little over an hour. Did you catch Jack? Did you return the ring?"

"No. Mom that's why I'm calling. Um. You won't believe me but I found Jack as he was being kidnapped and I followed them into this warehouse-"  
"You what? Alice!"  
"I'm fine. Really. I was running so fast I couldn't stop myself when I reached a dead end with a mirror standing against the wall and went threw it."

Here Alice paused. "I'm sorry Hunny. But did you just say you went threw a mirror?"  
Taking a deep breath, Alice said, "Yes." Knowing her mother would insist on going to wherever Alice was or for Alice to return home and see a doctor, Alice quickly told her mother everything that had happened.

"So I did the spell and now I'm tethered to Wonderland. I can't leave but I can call and I'm sure you can visit. Mom? Mom are you there?" Alice was concerned by the lack of response from her mother and was regretting telling Hatter she wanted to be alone when telling her mother.

"I-I. Alice this is not funny. I know you've been looking for your father but he isn't in Wonderland! I can't say anything about you saying he's dead as we don't know where he is and I know that as far as the police are concerned he's legally dead but he's not in Wonderland! Wonderland doesn't exist!"

"Mom please. I know how it sounds but it's true. Just go to the place I mentioned and you'll see the mirror. I could see about the mirror working at that time maybe."  
"No. It's not possible. Alice you have to come home. We'll go the the doctor. I'm sure he can explain what happened for you to believe this fairy tale."

"No mom I'm not crazy and I can't come home. I'm tethered here and I like it here."

"Alice I can't talk to you when you're like this." Her mother hanged up.

END FLASHBACK

Alice sighed. " She didn't take it well." Hatter reached over and squeezed her hand. "Don't worry. We'll figure something out." Chess smiled. "Yes Alice. Everything will work out. You have done so much for Wonderland. I'm sure in time Wonderland may bring your mother around when you least expect it."

Chess's prediction came true in the end. It took three months, but Alice's mother came around enough to follow Alice's instructions and found herself in a amazing, wonderful (no pun intended) Wonderland.

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone


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